HF Releases Top 20 Leaf Prospects List

As a reminder/lesson as to what the prospect grades indicate: the number represents a player’s traditional realistic potential ability on a scale of 1-10 with ten being “generational talent” and one being “borderline minor league player.” The letter (A-F) represents the prospect’s realistic chances of achieving their number-rated potential, with A being “all but guaranteed to reach potential” and F being “possess very little potential.” In the Leafs‘ ranks, Nazem Kadri tops out the rankings (with Schenn now considered graduated) as an 8.0C, meaning he’s a “first line forward” that “may reach potential, but could drop two ratings.” Jonas Gustavsson is ranked second in the Leaf ranks as a 7.5B, meaning he’s half way between a “journeyman No. 1 goaltender” and flat out “No. 1 goaltender,” with the realistic probability of reaching his traditional potential “likely” with the possibility of dropping one rating. Ranked third is Mikhail Stefanovich at 7.5C, which essentially means he’s somewhere in between first and second line potential, with the possibility that he could drop as far as two ratings.

HF has #5-ranked Tyler Bozak and #6-ranked Viktor Stalberg rated the same as Stefanovich, followed by Kenny Ryan and Jesse Blacker at #7 and #8 respectively as 7.0Cs. At #11, goaltender James Reimer is also rated a 7.0C. Chris DiDomenico is ranked 9th as another 7.0 prospect, albeit with a D letter rating, meaning he’s unlikely to achieve his traditional potential, could drop as low as three ratings and is more likely to figure as a bottom six role player at this time.

Now, if each were to live up to traditional potential according to HF, the Leafs would have nine top six/top four/No.1 talents (excluding DiDomenico, as well as RW Matt Frattin down at #16 who’s also a 7.0D) in their system. That would obviously be an unrealistic expectation, but it certainly still speaks to the vast improvement at the top end of the Leaf prospect pool over just a short period of time, with five of the top eight being Burke regime players.

For a full explanation of the ratings, see here, and for a breakdown of the Leafs’ top prospects by John-Eric Iannicello as of Fall 2009, click here.

Alec Brownscombe is the founder of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He was also the editor of the 2009-12 Maple Leafs Annuals. You can contact him at [email protected]